I am sorry to fans of Fade Away, but a certain scene is giving me a lot of trouble so I'm sort of sitting on it for a bit. Until then, enjoy this for awhile. I will be updating "A Whole New World" soon as well. I need to set some sort of schedule, I swear. Thank you to my betareaders 'coolgamer' and 'NeoMiniTails' for betareading this chapter.


12. Flames of Courage

Hana Kamiya shielded her baby brother from Dokugumon and clutched him close, relieved that his cries died down to smaller whimpers. Her heart thudded wildly in her chest, her hands sweating; it was all she could do to not start crying herself.

Her mother's partner was going to kill them both and there was nothing she could do! I promised to protect Tay but I can't even protect myself! I'm sorry Dad... I let you down.

"NO!" Dai suddenly cried out. Hana's eyes widened as her cousin jumped in front of her and Tay, his digital watch glowing and beeping crazily.

A warm bright light consumed the area. The sound of the whistling wind from the attack was getting closer and closer. Hana could feel the heat of the attack coming closer, her skin tingling, and her mind flashing back and forth every little regret. She could only hope that in Tay's last moments, he wasn't experiencing what she was at that moment.

"Gumdramon digivolve to...Veedramon!"

Hana let out an alarmed shriek as her, Taysuke and Dai were swept up into the arms of a larger blue dragon who had managed to shield them from Dokugumon's attack. Protecting them, a humongous blue dragon stood, his fearsome red eyes focused on the children, its porcelain white horns almost glowing in their presence, and his sharp claws extended out.

"Gumdramon?" Hana said, staring at the dragon who was snarling angrily at Dokugumon. "Is that you?"

"My name is Veedramon now," The dragon's expression somewhat softened as he turned to regard the three humans but he focused on Hana and Taysuke specifically.

"Dai's worry about losing his family and wanting to protect them helped me to digivolve," He explained gently. "Daichi will never let anything happen to you two!"

Dai stared at his partner, mouth agape until Veedramon spoke. He turned slightly pink at his blunt words and grumbled, "Don't be so embarrassing!"

For a moment, it was as if they'd forgotten their danger. His presence brought a calmness over them. Hearing Dai's reaction, Hana slightly giggled while Tay laughed.

"You're pretty cool, Veedramon!" Taysuke said happily, all traces of fear gone from his face. "Isn't he, Dai?"

Dai grinned. "Course he is! He's my partner! You look awesome, Veedramon! Did I really make you evolve like that though?"

Veedramon smiled, before putting all three children down on the ground. "Of course you did. Now, it's my turn to end this." He turned to Dokugumon who had temporarily been blinded by the light of digivolution. "I won't allow you to harm my partner or his family and friends, no matter what."

"Veedramon," Taysuke said, eyes widening. "You're not going to destroy Mom's partner, are you?"

Hana winced, pulling Taysuke close to her and hugging him. "He's going to try and avoid it, Tay. But he has to protect us so he might have to."

Taysuke's eyes welled up and he burst into tears. "But it's Mom's partner! She would be sad if we killed her partner!"

Hana groaned and glanced helplessly at Kaito. She was really bad at being the protective big sister, but she knew she had to look out for the little squirt or Mom and Dad would both be distraught about it, no questions asked. She was glad when her best friend moved over.

"He's just going to defend us, Tay," Kaito said gently, grasping Taysuke by the wrist gently. "If he can do it without causing too much harm to Dokugumon, I'm sure he will."

"I will," Veedramon said with a serious face as he looked at Taysuke. "I will find a way to remove the corruption without causing too much harm."

Taysuke stopped crying and Hana felt a surge of affection for Kaito for being able to get through to her little brother when she couldn't. Kaito, while he could be harsh on the outside, when push came to shove and the others needed him, Aunt Sora showed in him quite clearly as well. She couldn't help but admire that. If only I could be that honest with myself.

"Poison Thread!" Dokugumon shot a web towards Veedramon who attempted to knock it aside with his claw but his claw ended up getting trapped in the web.

Sam laughed coldly. "Even if your digimon has digivolved, he can't escape Dokugumon's web, it's sticky and doesn't break free so easily."

Why that little brat! And Dai wanted to save this kid because he thought he was one of their friends? She knew her cousin was insane and this just proved her point. "Hang in there Veedramon! Kei, you're supposed to be the smart one! What can he do?"

"Hana," MJ groaned. "He's new to this too, you know."

"Please be careful, Veedramon," Yuki said clutching Mikemon close to her.

Kei had been quiet for awhile now, observing the battle but frowned when Hana turned to him and raised his voice so Veedramon could hear but the enemy couldn't. "I think Veedramon should use an attack that doesn't require him to use his claws since they are trapped within the web. Veedramon, can you do that?"

"Course I can!" Veedramon said, managing to somehow avoid the attacks despite his claw being trapped in the web. "Vibeless Arrow!" A 'V' shot out of his chest, pushing Dokugumon back and the attack was enough to distract the other digimon enough for him to break free and pull back. He ran forward and aimed his attack. "Cutting Shot!" He sliced through the air, two blue blades appearing in the air and shooting into Dokugumon's back. Dokugumon let out a cry of a pain and thrashed around as a blue disc shot out of her back. She dedigivolved back to a green plant like creature with a flower sprouting out of it's head, digital blood surrounding her as she fell unconscious.

Sam frowned. "See? You hurt her! You humans always hurt digimon!" He tried to grab Palmon, but Veedramon gently scooped her up before he could, bringing her next to Hana and Tay before dedigivolving to a smaller digimon with two tiny blue legs on each side as well as blue ears the same shape he had as Gumdramon but smaller in size.

Dai picked up the little digimon. "Gumdramon?"

"I'm Doyomon now," The little digimon chirped. "I lost a lot of energy fighting so I reverted to my In-training form. I'm kinda tired so can I sleep now?"

Dai chuckled. "Sure thing, bud. Go on and get some rest. I'll hold onto you." He smiled as he watched Doyomon yawn and do just that before turning towards Sam and biting his lower lip causing Hana to facepalm. Honestly, he wasn't still thinking...

"That's not true, Sam!" Yuki screamed before her brother could even speak. "We're not the ones who hurt digimon. You're hurting them. I know you don't want to. I know you want to help them, but you're not helping them. Whoever is telling you all this is lying." She stepped towards Sam and Hana bit her lip, before grabbing her cousin's arm and yanking her back.

"Honestly," Hana said firmly. "I don't know whose more reckless, you or Dai. Isn't it obvious he's not your friend anymore? He tried to kill us, Yukine!" It was rare that she used her cousin's full name but she was trying to make a point here because her cousins were both being so stupid!

"He doesn't mean it," Dai said, clearly agreeing with his sister causing Hana to slap a hand to her forehead.

"Daichi," Hana said, pursing her lips, getting ready to go into a tirade against her cousin and his naivety but he cut her off.

"Sam, do you remember when we were kids and we would play together?" Dai said softly. "I would run, stepping on leaves and flowers not really caring if I hurt them because I was a kid. I didn't think about stuff like that but you told me it was bad to step on flowers because they were living too. You were so gentle, Sam. More than any of us. I know you wouldn't do all this if you knew you were hurting living creatures."

Sam frowned and something flickered in his eyes. "But I'm healing them. Humans before they would force digimon to be their weapons and fight battles for them. They created creatures such as Omnimon due to their own selfishness because they wanted to save the human world. Daichi, I don't really remember but I won't hurt you if you don't get in my way. If we were really friends back then, all that time ago, you need to understand how much humans have harmed this world. Daemon-sama tried to stop them, but they locked him in the World of Darkness."

"You idiot, do you really believe them?" Dai groaned. "If that's true, then why was Gumdramon so hurt? Why is Palmon bleeding? Why were so many digimon screaming? Why could Yuki feel the pain?"

"You guys can't say I ask too many questions anymore," Kei said snorting. "But for once, Dai is right and has a logical point. You seem to see things only from one angle. Have you ever tried to understand the other side of the story?"

Sam stepped forward, reaching out towards Dai and Yuki before a strong gust of wind surrounding them. Hana shielded her own eyes as she could barely see with all the darkness that had filled the place suddenly, almost like some sort of smokescreen which when it faded away, the doors to the factory were closed and Sam and the other digimon were nowhere to be seen.

"Well," Hana grumbled. "Clearly if someone is brainwashing Sam, they don't want us to interfere with it." She turned to her little brother who had been holding onto their mother's digimon and raised an eyebrow. Was it just her or had Palmon's wounds and bleeding lessened somewhat? She shook away that thought. No, she was probably just imagining things. She turned towards her cousins. "You two are crazy, you know that? That was dangerous."

Dai grinned. "Like you haven't been reckless once in awhile, Hanako."

Hana felt her cheeks flushed as she glowered at him hotly and punched him in the shoulder. "The name's Hana, idiot! And I don't do anything life-threatening! You could have died!"

"Awww, were you worried?" Dai continued, a large, goofy grin playing on his face. "I'm touched."

Hana felt her fists shaking with the urge to hit him again, but Yuki got between them.

"Enough," Yuki scolded the both of them. "You're going to wake Doyomon up with all your bickering. Where do we go from here? Do we rescue the other digimon or go back to our cave and rest?"

Before anyone could reply, a rainbow looking light flickered in front of them and Gennai appeared.

"Gennai!" All the DigiDestined cried at once.

"Hello DigiDestined," Gennai said calmly. "How are you?"

"How are we?" Hana said raising an eyebrow. "Do you not get the news wherever the heck you live?" She crossed her arms and huffed. She was pretty much ready to go home right now and have a day's worth of rest before even considering looking for her partner. She was tired, her heart was beating at the speed of light and she just wanted to sleep.

"I would have contacted you when you first arrived but something was blocking my connection," Gennai said softly. "It is good to see that you have met another one of your partner digimon and that you have acquired the Gems of Light."

"They're not really that bright or anything though," Taysuke said looking at his own Gem while he held Palmon gently in both hands, making sure not to drop anything.

"That's because as of now, the Gems are incomplete," Gennai explained to them. "Like the Tags did with the Crests, the Soul Cards will fit into your Gems, activating when you reach your full potential. However, right now, you should return home. Your parents will be worried about you, and Palmon might be better off staying with Mimi."

"We can go home?" Hana said happily.

"That's all you got from that explanation?" Kei said with a roll of his eyes. "Soul Cards, huh? Does that mean these Gems represent a part of our soul?"

"Who cares about that right now?" Hana cut in. "I'm tired and want to rest! We can think about Gems and Soul Cards later!" She knew this wasn't like her because playing soccer did increase a person's stamina but this world was a lot more draining than a game of soccer. This was due to the fact that it wasn't guaranteed seeing the sun rise the next morning with enemies trying to kill them all the time.

"How are we going to get home anyway?" MJ asked softly. "Our digimon need rest too, after all. DemiDevimon's hurt, Mikemon's tired and Doyomon actually fell asleep."

"If you walk to the left from here, there is a small TV, hidden in a bunch of leaves," Gennai said. "Point your DigiWatches at it and it'll take you back to the human world. To come back, you simply need a computer. Good luck, DigiDestined." He vanished.

Dai cuddled Doyomon close, careful not to wake him. "Let's go then."

The gang headed in the directions that Gennai had instructed them to and sure enough, there was a small TV there. Hana glanced at Kaito before following him and raising her own little DigiWatch towards the TV screen along with the others. A blinding light flashed causing her to once again shield her eyes and the next thing, she knew they were all on the living room floor of her house.